Frustrated with my babysitter..how do I handle the situation?

A few days ago, my father in law brought my daughter to my house while the babysitter was watching my 5 month old. His seat was turned towards TV and he was watching it. My father in law told her not to do that. She, apparently, didn't pay much attention to it b/c just yesterday I come in, and he's watching TV AGAIN!! I tell her "please, don't let him watch any TV". So she starts asking me "why not?" So I explain it to her how it's not good for his development and there are other ways to entertain him. Today, I come home from work and his seat is turned towards the TV set but they're not home (I asked her to walk outside with him). I AM FRUSTRATED!!! She was told 2 times in the matter of days not to do it and she keeps doing it! I'm so ready to tell her off but don't want to burn bridges b/c she stays with my little guy when I'm not home. How do I handle it now?? Am I overreacting? DD was never allowed to watch TV and b/c of that, she's not too fond of it now. She'd rather play with her toys and then be glued to it. I don't want my son developing a habit of watching TV 24/7 and getting ADHD at the same time. Ugh!

i agree with you that there is other forms of entertainment and if TV is the only entertainment your 5 month old is getting then you do have reason to be angry....i have always put the tv on..its always on different things..often cartoons and my son will sit there 2 mins take a peak and keep playing with his toys..or we play and cartoons are on...mind you the only cartoons he watches are berstain bears,ruby and maxarthur,toopy and binoo,backyardigans and wonderpets...(but he doesnt watch them everydaymy son is 11 months old and the dr is amazed at how advanced he is, how well he understands etc.. i am not 24/7 entertaining him however i do not sit him in front of the tv all day long either...like i said it's always been on and from the 11 months i have had him those are the shows he has grown to pay attention to, they are educational as well but i wouldnt let him sit all the time in front of the TV...there are limits and sometimes i just have music on the TV but it's still on...

on another note, i have met some people who never let their children watch tv and when their child grew up they engaged at friends places and the children come home and its a fight to watch tv because they never really knew it existed...maybe try some type of time frame.. 10 minutes at a time.. no more than 30 minutes a day or so...i dont know just a thought..

and FYI...i don't know if you were being sarcastic BUT your child will NOT develop ADHD or ADD.. those are chemical imbalances within the brain...it's neurological.. you are born with it and certainly don't develop it from watching TV....if that was the case ALOT more people would be on ritalin

this is from drgreen.com
The more television that toddlers watch, the more likely they are to have ADHD when they are school age, according to a provocative study in the April 2004 Pediatrics. The study followed more than 2,600 children, initially at ages 1 to 3. The overall rate of ADHD at age 7 was about 10 percent. But for the top 10 to 20 percent of television viewers, the ADHD rate was about 3 times higher - and increased by about 9 percent for every additional hour of daily television watch. This study did not look at different kinds of programs, and certainly does not tell us what caused what. Perhaps kids who already had short attention spans were more drawn to TV. Or their parents were more likely to need the TV for relief. But it's also possible that exposure to the rapidly shifting images of television during those years of critical brain development changed the way that those brains developed. Until we know more, it is wise to be cautious about excess television viewing in the first 3 years.

I have a child with ADD and I've never had any of her Dr's mention that TV is associated with it. As a matter of fact I'm sure it isn't because she was always to busy as a child to sit down and watch tv. Also, you can find anything on the internet to support anything.
If you are so against tv why dont you simply remove it from your livingroom so your kids won't be around it.

I'm 48 and I watched occasional TV when I was a baby and child - didn't every single person here?

Is there anyone here in this discussion who didn't watch TV with their parents when they were babies in the playpen or older kids?

I agree, "excessive" is always a bad thing - but if he's doing a lot of other things the worst thing you have to worry about (and it is a worry) is that she flat doesn't care about your instructions and is taking zero pains to hide from you that she's doing exactly what she wants, your wishes or not.

he's only 5 month. he doesn't need any tv exposure. he's brain is developing rapidly at this age and i'd rather he gets human contact then tv. i'm putting up cameras to make sure it's not an all day thing. I like tired's suggestion about the chip ;)

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